78th Post Jesus Teaching on Eternal Life Con't. - John 3: 16 - 21.

John 3: 16 21. This passage comes very early in Jesus earthly ministry, not long after Jesus encounter with Nicodemus. John 3:16 is very familiar to most Christians, it was probably one of the first verses you committed to memory. However, verses 17 - 21 are not so familiar, so I will print them here. 17."For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God." It is funny that we don't look at these four verses together more often. When we do, we see this is the plan of God to reconcile man back to God after man brought sin into the world. When you read the Bible you can follow this plan from its beginning to its end in Revelation. Since the fall of man, we have been trying to find out way back to God on our own. God shows us how to get back into communion with God. All we have to do is walk back into the light and stay there by doing the will of God. It is God that draws us back into the Light, so that we can not boast in the fact that we found it. Where are you in this struggle?

77th Post Jesus Teaching on Eternal Life - Matthew 19: 17 - 21.

Matthew 19: 17 - 21; Mark 10: 18 - 21; Luke 18: 19 - 22 The rich young ruler.
By the location of this passage in the book of Matthew, you know this took place toward the middle to end of His earthly ministry. While Jesus was teaching a young man came up and said "Good Teacher what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus responds with "why do you call me good?" Jesus asked this question to remind the people that God alone is the one who is always good. Man because of our sinful nature are not completely good. Only God can be called good all the time. After establishing that fact, Jesus goes on to answer the young man's question. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. This is quite interesting. Some New Testament teachers, tell us we don't have to pay attention to any of the Old Testament teachings. Jesus clearly is reemphasizing what He said in the Sermon on the Mount, "He did not come to do away with the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill." The young man said, that he has kept those faithfully from his youth. Jesus then told the young man to sell everything he had, and follow Him. At this the young ruler went away very sad, he could not bear to give up his wealth and power. This is where a lot of us who are witnessing get off track. Jesus let the young man go on his way. Jesus did not go after him and continue to try to convince him to follow Jesus. We forget that people have a choice to accept and reject the message. We will be looking at more passages that seem to remind us of this fact. Are you ready to make a decision to follow Christ?

76th Post Jesus Teaching New Birth Con't. - John 3: 5 - 8

Jesus continued His teaching on being reborn in the Spirit as follows. Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you can not enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. What does this mean? We are born into this world as humans, how can we reborn into the Spirit? This is exactly the same question Nicodemus had over 2,000 years ago. How is this possible! For the answer you need to go back to Genesis chapter 3. In the Garden, God separated the seed of the woman from the seed of the serpent (man). Man is born with the knowledge of good and evil. When man lives by worldly standards, he is living as the seed of the serpent. This does not mean, he is a rapist or a murderer. He can live by the world's standards and still look good. The problem is that God has a different standard all together. When you are born in the Spirit, you have the Spirit of God living in you, this provides you with extra will power to say "no" to the will of the world and you start to live in the Will of God. This does not mean that you become sinless, what happens is that you "sin less." When you decide to put Jesus first in your life, this is when you are truly born again. This can happen after you have been Baptized. If this happens, you do not have to be Baptized again. The Apostle Paul said one Baptism for the remission of sins. You can be baptized again, but it is not necessary. When you start to live in the Will of God, people will start to see a change in you; and you will not be the same person you were before. This is what is meant by born again! Where are you on your walk with God??

75th Post Jesus Teaching on New Birth Con't. - John 3:3.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is born again he can not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus then asked how is this possible, for he was an old man and could not enter his mother's womb again to be born. This will be a common problem that will plague Jesus through the rest of His earthly Ministry. Jesus was talking about Spiritual things, and Nicodemus was thinking in terms of physical things. There has been a lot of bad teaching with regard to being born again. Jesus was talking about Baptism. If you have been Baptized and you have made an effort to follow Jesus Christ, you are born again. To be called a Christian, and you are practicing, you are born again. This is the key. If you are a Christian in name only, and your walk does not match your talk, you are not born again. Baptism was a difficult thing for the Jews to do. In the Old Testament, only non-Jews were baptized. Jews believed that they were exempt, it was part of being the chosen people. They could not understand why they would have to submit to this. Baptism is a sign of the "new covenant" that Jesus was proclaiming. The religious leaders, believed that they were the only ones who knew the mind of God, so they should be exempt from baptism, just like in the Old Testament. You can imagine how this news hit Nicodemus. Nicodemus did not argue this point any further. We will meet Nicodemus again, and you will see which way he went in regards to Jesus and His new teaching. When we receive information different than what we were taught, will we react like Nicodemus? Or will we be more like the religious leaders that chose not to believe this new information. The choice is yours!

74th Post Jesus Teaching on the New Birth - John 3:3

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he can not see the kingdom of God. John 3:3
This passage takes place soon after Jesus cleanses the Temple. By the location in the book of John, of this passage, you know that this is very early in Jesus ministry. Jesus has not called all of His disciples yet. The beginning of chapter 3, tells us that a man named Nicodemus, who happened to be a Pharisee; came to Jesus at night to talk to him. There has been a lot of speculation as to why he came to see Jesus at night. If you look at the text carefully, it will tell you exactly why he came at night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, as such he was a teacher in the Temple, he had position, and respect within the Jewish community. It is interesting what Nicodemus says to Jesus. "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do "unless God is with him". Nicodemus used the word "signs" plural, if you look back at chapter two, Jesus turned the water into wine, and cleansed the Temple. Jesus turned the water into wine in the town of Cana in the Northern region of Israel almost 100 miles away. How could Nicodemus know about these? The Bible does not tell us but somehow he knew. At the time of Jesus, there had been "false messiah's", Nicodemus I don't think thought Jesus was one of these, because of his statement to Jesus "for no one can do these signs unless God be with him". Clearly Nicodemus believes that Jesus is sent from God. He is not sure of what capacity yet. Nicodemus knew that Jesus was sent from God, and came to see Him early in His Ministry. This we know from the text. I have run out of space again, so will have to get into the passage John 3:3 in next post.

73rd Post Jesus Teachings on Warnings Con't. - Luke 6: 24 - 26.

"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets." Luke 6: 24-26.
This is part of Luke's version of Jesus Sermon on the Mount; I printed the verses so that we can refer to what Jesus actually said in order to discover the meaning of His Words. To put these words into context, Jesus was reminding the people, that they are required to not only listen to the words but also discern if they are true or not. This goes hand in hand with the Beatitudes Jesus told them about earlier in this chapter of Luke. Jesus has been teaching the people the ways and words of God. Some of Jesus teachings were quite different from what the Sadducees and the Pharisees taught. Jesus was likening this misunderstanding to what the Jews forefathers had faced when they were confronted with true and false teachers and prophets. They also had to decide which of the teachings was correct and which was false. The Jewish forefathers chose the wrong people to believe, because they were discerning on their own understanding. The Old Testament is full of their mistakes. Jesus is asking them to discern according to God's Word, God will tell you who is right. As the Jews of old, they were well off before Nebuchadnezzar actually took the Southern Kingdom by force. You need to discern according to God's understanding not yours.

72nd Post Jesus Teachings on Warnings - Matthew 18:7; Luke 17: 1

To better understand this passage, we need to look at the beginning of Matthew Chapter 18. The disciples were arguing amongst themselves, which one is the greatest, and which one will be the greatest in Heaven. This would be a normal happening in the world, but this is taking place amongst the disciples, Jesus chosen ones whom He is training to take over for Him when He returns to Heaven. The location of the passage Matthew 18, tells us that this takes place late in Jesus earthly ministry, right before He was to suffer and die. You would expect this discussion to happen early in Jesus' ministry, but not now! The disciples should know a lot about the Kingdom of Heaven and how it works; after hearing Jesus teach and watching Him interact with the people for 3.1/2 years. Jesus taught that God gets the Glory, not us. We are only the messengers, and it is not our words we deliver. This is a problem area for everyone who is in a position of leadership in the Church. People listen to us because we are in charge of bringing God's Word to the people. We are responsible to make sure our message is correct; and we can not become boastful or proud, thinking that the crowd is there to see us. God is to get the Glory Always!!

This is not the only way we can be a problem. As Christians, we are to be a good example of what is right, not an example of worldly pollution (sin). To whom much is given, much is required; if we cause others to sin, we are held more accountable. Your walk should show the attributes of Christ. If it does not, then you need to examine your life and make the appropriate changes.